Album Reviews

New Zealand-based dissonant death metal act Ulcerate follows its modern agglomeration principle in the band’s seventh album 'Cutting the Throat of God', out via Debemur Morti Productions on July 14th, 2024. The conception of fusing atmosphere and technicality has been enhanced with each studio release. It is the way of this New Zealander trio to bring their works of wonder and to push further the thresholds in the realms of death metal.
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Trondheim’s black metal entity Whoredom Rife continues to rise into the edifice of the Norwegian black metal scene alongside bands like Djevel. The duo V (all instruments, songwriting) and K.R (vocals) always have an exceptional taste in black metal to offer. Their influence and the rooted songwriting bring atmosphere and malevolence of cold dark tremolos. Whoredom Rife has infested its roots from the likes of Satyricon and Taake and the fourth installment 'Den Vrede Makt' achieves the Northern signature of icy black metal, but the band takes a different direction on the latest studio album.
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GHØSTKID may not sound too familiar to your ears, but lead singer Sushi maybe will. He used to be the lead singer of Electric Callboy, doing scream and clean vocals. As an Electric Callboy fan, I definitely wanted to check GHØSTKID out as well. Let's see what they have to offer with their second album called 'Hollywood Suicide'.
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Long-running German black metal quartet Tsatthoggua returns after two decades and a half. The third full-length album 'We Are God' harnesses an intense, beastly sound and takes its splendor to an energetic formula, thus bringing back the infernal black metal trait of the 90s. Tsatthoggua was formed in 1993 and released its debut album 'Hosanna Bizarre' in 1996 and was followed by the second album 'Trans Cunt Whip' in 1998 before the band went disappearing from the international scene. The classic lineup includes the founding members False Prophet (bass), Lightning Bolt (drums), Nar Marratuk (guitars) and Northwind (vocals).
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Rising like a burning phoenix from the ashes of Nifelheim, Hellbutcher is an international black metal band formed by vocalist Per "Hellbutcher" Gustavsson (ex-Nifelheim), the debut self-titled album 'Hellbutcher' is one of the finest albums I have heard so far this year. The lineup includes Devastator (drums) AKA Martin Axenrot, Necrophiliac (guitars), Eld (bass), and Iron Beast (guitars). The ultimate embodiment of raw black/thrash metal appears to be exempt of the modern sound hence, Hellbutcher infests an aesthetic that will likely draw fans of old-school metal.
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Dutch brutal death metal act Severe Torture returns with the sixth album 'Torn from the Jaws of Death' out via Season of Mist on June 7th, 2024. Severe Torture is one of the bands that emerged in the early 2000s and became known in the Netherlands and European scene with their straightforward, brutal inclinations of modern and old-school death metal. The band’s lineup consists of Dennis Schreurs (vocals), Thijs van Laarhoven (guitar), Marvin Vriesde (guitar, ex-Dew-Scented), Patrick Boleij (bass), and Damiën Kerpentier (drums).
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After Mark Shelton’s passing in 2018, the remaining members disbanded Manilla Road and reformed under the new moniker Sentry. With Shelton being the main and consistent driving force behind this legendary band since the late seventies, it would have been a vain exercise to try and continue under the same name.
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Know, oh prince, that in the years following their self-titled debut, there was an age undreamed of for Stygian Crown, whose shining doom epics lay spread across the record like vinyl gems beneath the stars. Hither came ‘Funeral for a King’, their sophomore record, heavy riffed, soaringly vocaled. Fists in the air, with gigantic melodies and gigantic doom, to tread the beer-drenched stages of your summer festivals under their sandaled feet.
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Dark and brimmed with evil atmosphere the Chilean death metal band Rotten Tomb has set a structural method for its sophomore 'The Relief of Death'. The songwriting reflects inspiration from the genre classics of death metal à la Incantation, Krypts and Grave Miasma, but Rotten Tomb's latest work is beyond anything I have heard this year. The band is comprised of C. (guitars and bass), Deathbringer (guitars and vocals), Utukku (bass guitar) and, A. Prophaner (drums).
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California-based death-doom formation Tzompantli portray the Aztec mythology and language on the sophomore record 'Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force' out via 20 Buck Spin since 17th May 2024. The new album sees them perfecting their craft and sounding a lot heavier than the first full-length album 'Tlazcaltiliztli'. The songs here turned out to be bolstered by mid-paced riffing with bulldozing drums and deep guttural growls.
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